Pardes Faculty Traveling

June 2008

Pardes Educator Alumni Newsletter-June, 2008 Sivan, 5768

Dear Hevre,We
hope this second issue of the newsletter finds you well. The Pardes
year program has ended and we are about to graduate the 7th cohort (see
details below). The summer looks like it will be a busy one, with three
regular summer sessions, our Educators Curriculum Workshop,and an
Executive Seminar. We are busy preparing the Fall Retreat, the Summer
Curriculum Workshop, responding to your individual requests, and
compiling information you sent to us in the questionnaires. There are
also a number of exciting projects we are exploring/developing on your
behalf. We hope to share these with you in the fall.Finally, the
end of the year should be a time for you as teacher to reflect. What
went well? Are there resources that you need? What was challenging for
you? Who can help you with those challenges? (Please know that we are
always ready to be that person). Take some time after the end of school
to quietly write and reflect. Hopefully, as a result, you will make
changes so that when you approach this time next year you will be more
satisfied with what you have accomplished. Kol Tuv and Chag Sameach,Abby, Debra and SusanPardes Educators Alumni Support Project

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Dvar Torah by David I. Bernstein

Dear PEP alumni:This past Shabbat, we completed the reading of Sefer VaYikra in shuls
all over the Jewish world. It is always an emotional moment for me when we all say "chazak,
chazak, v'nitchazek." We all need that personal
"chizuk," and that communal "chizuk" so badly: in our Torah
learning, in our Jewish living, and in our personal lives. Over
the years, I've come to appreciate Sefer Vayikra more. I would like to
share a short insight into the book of Vayikra from Rabbi Menachem
Leibtag. Menachem points out that Vayikra divides
into 2 halves: the first 17 chapters form a distinct unit, laws
concerning the avodah in the Mishkan; but chapters 18-27 discuss a wide
variety
of topics, most of them not Mishkan-related, or concerning the
Kohanim.What are laws of prohibited marriages and "v'ahavta l'reyacha
kamocha" doing in
Vayikra? Why is it in Vayikra that the Torah commands us to be honest
in
business, and in our use of weights and measures? Isn't this book
supposed to be "Torat Kohanim?" Rabbi Liebtag makes the following
observation: The phrase "Ani Hashem" appears only once in the first
half
of the book, where the focus is on the Mishkan; but in the second half,
in only
9 chapters, it appears more than 50 times! It is precisely in the laws
concerning the Mishkan, the sanctuary of
God's presence, where the phrase is missing. And the reason he posits
for this is that when we stand in the Mishkan,we are likely to feel a
sense of awe that we
stand in God's presence. It is easy to be a good Jew when you
are in shul/Mishkan. It is when we leave the Mishkan, and move to our
everyday life, that Sefer Vayikra reiterates more than 50 times:
"Ani HaShem! I am God! I am not only the God of the Mishkan, of the
shul; I am the God of the everyday." It is not hard to be holy in the Mishkan. It is not hard to be
holy on Yom Kippur. It is
hard to be holy on an ongoing, day-to-day
basis. And this is why the second half of Vayikra, filled with the
mitzvoth of everyday life, states "Ani HaShem" more than 50 times,
reminding us of God's presence.The purpose of the Mishkan is to act as
a center of God's
presence; not be limited to that structure, but to emanate outwards
from it. Similarly,the purpose of Shabbat is not to act holy one day a
week,
but for Shabbat to inform and impact the rest of our week. And the
purpose of the Jewish people is not to be only for ourselves, but
to create a 'Mamlechet Kohanim v'Goy Kadosh', an ideal
society which will improve the rest of the world by example, and by our
actions. For
many of you, Pardes served as (l'havdil) a kind of Mishkan, a temporary
structure of a life you built for yourselves in Jerusalem. It is our
hope that the time you spent learning and living with us was
not meant to create a sanctuary in isolation, but rather a place from
which
that intensity will emanate outwards, informing and impacting the way
you will
live the rest of your life, and the way you will teach - with passion,
integrity, and with love. If so, then indeed your time at Pardes was
not
a fleeting moment, and you, your students, and your present and future
families,will reap the benefits for many more years to come.My best wishes to each of you for a Chag Shavuot Sameach.Sincerely,David I.
Bernstein, Ph.D.Dean, Pardes Institute of
Jewish Studies

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November Retreat UpdateThanks to our generous grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation we are inviting all of our alumni to a retreat reunion at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center,
November 20-23, 2008. Our newest cohort (cohort 7) will have dinner
and a formal program Thursday evening, November 20. While the actual
program will begin over breakfast on Friday morning at 8:30 AM, other
cohorts are invited to arrive on Thursday afternoon as well. The
program will end at 1:30 PM on Sunday, November 23. It is important
that participants be there for the entire time. Please let us know if you are willing to help plan the retreat. Feel free to contact Abby.

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Cohort 7 Joins AlumniThe
graduation of the fourteen members of the 7th cohort of Pardes
Educators will take place on Wednesday, June 11 in the Pardes Beit
Midrash. We wish our graduates a hearty Mazel Tov! So far, they have
found jobs for the coming year at the following schools:Charles E. Smith Elementary School, Rockville, MDNew Community Jewish High School, Los Angeles, CAHannah Senesh Community Day School, Brooklyn, NYEmery/Wiener Community High School, Houston, TXGann Academy, Waltham, MAJess Schwartz College Prep-The Jewish Community's High School, Phoenix, AZSolomon Schechter of Westchester, Westchester, NYWestchester-Fairfield Hebrew Academy, Greenwich, CTCohort
9 will join the program in September. There are still some spaces
available. Please pass the word on to anyone who might be interested.
You are our best ambassadors to spread the word about the Educators
Program, so remember, always keep us in mind for future applicants.
Contact Gail Kirschner, Administrative Coordinator of the Educators Program.

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Education Corner:Word Splash (taken from Activators by Saphier & Haley,Research for Better Teaching, Acton,
MA,1993)A
Wordsplash is a collection of key terms or concepts taken from a written
passage-a chapter in a textbook, a newspaper or magazine article-which the
students are about to read. The terms selected represent important ideas
that the teacher wants students to attend to when they actually do the reading
later, but initially the students' task is to make predictive statements about
how each of the terms relates to the title or main focus of the reading.
Most terms selected for a Wordsplash are familiar vocabulary for
students. The novelty of the terms is only the way in which the terms are
associated with the new topic.Display selected
terms randomly and at angles on a visual (overhead or chart). Students
brainstorm and generate complete statements (not just words or phrases)
which predict the relationship between each term and the broder
topic. Once the students have generated statements for each term they
turn to the printed material, read to check the accuracy of their predictive
statements and revise where needed. When students have read and revised
their predictions encourage them to quiz each other on the correct information.Suggestions,
Applications and Variations:-Create a Wordsplash
prior to viewing a film; pause the film periodically for students to
discuss/revise predictions.-Create a
Wordsplash prior to having a guest speaker; if time permits share the
students' predictions with the speaker in advance of his presentation.-Create a
Picture Splash; "What do you think these pictures have to do with
Christopher Columbus and his voyage?"-Use the
Wordsplash as a summarizing strategy: students read and then create
theirown Wordsplash of what they consider to be the key terms or
ideas in the passage. Thanks to Matt Conti (Cohort 7) for the sample below.

lock the
storesmajor fast

מסכת תענית

because of diseasepray for
rain

Minor fastearthquakessound the shofar

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Lesson Plan for Summer FunThere are many advantages to being a teacher, one of which
is the school calendar with the frequent vacations and long summer break.
Another advantage you have is being familiar with "backwards planning". If you
know where you want to wind up in terms of how you'll spend your summer, you
know you need to plan so that the summer doesn't simply disappear on you. We
suggest you take an evening to sit down and brainstorm all that you'd like to
do. Be sure to aim for a balance between professional chizuk, personal projects
(travel, arts, reading, seeing
friends and family, fixing your apartment/house, etc.) and
un-programmed
spontaneity. If you make good use of your long summer (as you define
"good
use") you'll better appreciate your career choice. Even for those of
you who are in jobs that only give short vacations, planning can only
help.

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Professional Development

*New on-line Resource-The Mofet JTEC
The objective of the international JTEC content portal in Jewish
education is to improve the flow of pedagogical knowledge and research
in Jewish education.

*Call for Papers-Jewish Identity and Peoplehood in a Post-Modern World. Click here for more information and guidelines. Feel free to contact Zvi Grumet*Call for Papers-for the International Conference on Pluralistic Jewish Education, July 27-28,2009. Contact Ronit Charust for more information and guidelines.

Focus on ELisha Stein (Cohort 4)Elisha is completing his 3rd year of teaching high school at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew
Academy (formerly "Akiba")
outside of Philadelphia.
Elisha teaches both Tanach and Jewish Studies(Rabbinics), and was privileged to
be able to teach a Talmud course to seniors this past year on Tractate Shabbat.
In addition to his teaching responsibilites, Elisha has twice served as advisor
to the school's Moot Beit Din team, and accompanied them to Toronto this past April for RAVSAK's national
competition. Elisha has also been working on integrating magic into his
teaching as an educational tool to make theological concepts more
understandable to students.
Elisha came to teaching after having practiced law for ten years He
wanted to devote his energies toward Jewish education, and feels that a career
switch such as this would have. been nearly impossible without the benefits
provided by the Pardes Educators program. "I regularly refers to
notes and materials from classes I took at Pardes, and am grateful to have
benefited from the faculty's expertise in both Torah and pedagogy."
Elisha lives in Center City Philadelphia with his wife Anabel and two children,
Aaron and Shira.
Contact Elisha to learn
more about what he is doing

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Alumni Updates*Condolences to Ron Einhorn (Cohort 6) on the loss of his mother.*Mazel tov to Laurie Goldberg (Cohort 2) on her aliya. *Mazel tov to Sean Herstein (Cohort 1) on his return to the classroom. Sean will be teaching at the Minneapolis Jewish Day School.A number of Alumi had babies this year; following are the most recent Mazel Tovs: Sean Herstein (Cohort 1) on the birth of Nava Ruth. Nili Chernikoff Auerbach (Cohort 6) on the birth of Eliana Leah.Mordechai Cohen (Cohort 1) on the birth of Adi Tova.Zvi Grumet(PEP faculty) and Naomi Marmon on the birth of Yair.

Professional Accolades:*Jessica
Lissy Trey on receiving the Grinspoon Award for excellence in Teaching.
Jessica has been appointed Head of Judaic Studies at Hannah Senesh
School, Brooklyn, NY.*Adee Weismark (Cohort 4) on his appointment as the Middle School Judaic Studies Coordinator at the Davis Academy, Atlanta GA.*Adam
Tilove on his appointment as Middle School Coordinator for Jewish
Studies and Hebrew Language at Rodeph Sholom School, New York.*Evan
Wolkenstein has been chosen as one of 15 outstanding teachers in North
America to participate in the Shalom Hartman Institute Educator
Enrichment Program.

The following alumni were selected to participate in these Professional Development opportunities:*Michal Cahlon (Cohort 5)will be attending the workshop "History, Culture and Politics of Modern Israel" Click here o learn more about this workshop and to apply for next year. *Elizabeth Corlin (Cohort 5) was accepted into the "Global Summit for Young Jewish Innovators". Click here to learn more about this innitiative.*Adam
Tilove will participate in the Lookstein Center Leadership Program in
NY following his attendance at our Summer Curriculum Workshop. *Damien
Zoppo will remain in Israel following the Summer Curriculum Workshop to
attend the Jewish Educators Summer Seminar at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem,
Israel.